Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

LA DOMESTIQUE FIDELLE.

Sweet was thy heritage of grace,

With hopes that speak of heaven;
Sweet was thy task of love, to trace
From morning dawn till even,

The saving mercies of thy God,
Redemption's work divine ;-
Thy steps in Jesus' pathway trod,

And all his truth was thine!

49

My meditation of him shall be sweet? I will be glad in the LORD.”— PSALM Civ. 34.

LA DOMESTIQUE FIDELLE.

FAITHFUL Agnes-faithful Agnes!
Let me ne'er thy worth forget;
And whilst time is gathering o'er us,
Let me breathe thy virtues yet.
Faithful Agnes, faithful Agnes!
What though moments pass us by;
Friendship ne'er should yield its office,
Truth and love can never die.

What though fortune ne'er may scatter
Golden showers around thy head;

Pearls of joy and summer roses

On thy path of life are spread :
And, to crown thy earthly being,
Grace doth heavenly influence lend ;

Then how rich is thy possession;

Jesus speaks Himself thy Friend!

E

THE PALMER OF DRAYTON.

CLOTHED in that leathern doublet-see a breast
With man's deep debt of inbred sin opprest!
His heaven-invested mission, in that eye
Speaks to our souls his gifted ministry.
He like Elijah, by the ravens fed,

And like the Baptist through the desert led,
Found not on earth, his home ;-his proper skies
Were smiling in the light of Paradise.

Bound in the bundle of eternal life,

He calls our spirits up from earth's dark strife,
And, in the gospel message, bids us see

Our chartered scroll of light and liberty.

"If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." -1 JOHN i. 7.

BODY AND MIND.

A GENTLE poet would you seek
Whose lips can many a lesson speak?

A gentle poet and a mind

That honours and adorns its kind:

A gentle poet would you see,

Then come and seek his shrine with me!

A finished person, fair address;

Now let me half his worth express !

Those eyes are speaking, full and bright,

Like crystal orbs of liquid light;

BODY AND MIND.

That form in graceful moulding shines,
Where taste with elegance combines,
As pictured thus before your view
With all a painter's colouring, true.

Now for the mind that nobler part,
And for its soft ally, the heart:
The mind is tutored, polished, fraught
With stores of wisdom dearly bought;
Exalted and attuned to themes

Above the poets' fabled dreams,
Whilst through our being's mighty range,
He visits regions wild and strange.
With poet's soul and poet's eye
He looks on nature's mystery,
And mingles with her beauties fair,
The colours that are breathing there.
Then for the heart, whose living glow
Can kindred light and heat bestow;
The heart-affection's sovereign throne,-
Which princes vainly gaze upon;
The heart, where feeling's chosen band
Is subject all, at her command;

The heart, where love and friendship reign,

He cultures as his best domain.

A poet's soul, a poet's lyre

May well Devotion's strains inspire;

He, tuned to heavenly themes, would sing

The glories of his God and King,

And youth and age he fain would draw
As subjects to his righteous law.

With patriarchs, prophets, priests, and kings
He communes as on angel wings;-

51

On wings of faith and wings of love,
Which lift our thoughts to worlds above.
With priests and patriarchs to converse,
To hear what sainted bands rehearse,
May well with mind like his, accord
As servant of his living Lord;

Whilst mingling thus in heaven's blest throng
He swells with them Redemption's song.

To tune the harp of Zion well—

In this let all his powers excel;

His fervent offerings let him raise,

And celebrate Messiah's praise:

Whilst clothed in hallowed vestments, see

The sacred muse of Poesy !—

"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the

Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ."-PHIL. iii. 20.

A GENIUS.

I SEEK to paint a genius,

In beauty's mould enshrined;

And whilst that beauteous mould I paint,
It glows with living mind.

A charmer is the guest within,-
She trims her lamp with skill,
And bids the light that gaily burns,
That goodly mansion fill.

A GENIUS.

And there are spacious halls of state
Where large ideas range;

Where bands of thoughts and feelings move
In union, soft and strange.

And gems of wit and taste are there,

And quick inventions aid;

And fancy, with her rainbow hues,
Her tints of light and shade.

And ardour, with her sparkling eye,
And impulse ever new,

And sportive visions, as they dance

Before the admiring view.

Here too let truth and friendship paint
That love of human kind,
Which in this image-chamber dwells,
With these bright forms combined.

And charity of lofty mien,

That in her wide embrace,
Each brotherhood of Christ receives,
In heaven's appointed place.

She welcomes with a kiss of peace,
His saints and children dear;
She loves within His church, to greet
His willing servants here.

How goodly are the tents that shine
Where His redeemed dwell!
Gathered around their Ark of rest,
See God's own Israel !

53

« PreviousContinue »